Homemade graham crackers made with honey. Refined sugar free and naturally sweetened. Made with coconut sugar, honey and optional molasses.
Were you worried the baby food section on this website would be ignored now that Camille has teeth, is walking, and is shaking her head 'no' at certain foods? I'm glad to say this isn't the case.
I will always make some form of baby food, but as Camille gets older, it's probably going to be desserts that are naturally-sweetened, or remakes of store-bought 'kid' food. Personally, I don't believe in kid food. But I also don't believe in denying your kids such rights of passage, like graham crackers.
Camille started going to a church daycare for 3 hours a day a few times a week when she was 9 months old. (I needed to start cleaning my house again, ya know?). Every day, I would fill out a form that specified food requests for her. Next to the box that said 'Are graham crackers okay?,'I would circle NO, underline it, and scribble in 'snacks from home only!' She is my first kid, after all.
I'm not sure if Camille stared longingly as the other kids ate graham crackers, but in my defense, she was very late to get her teeth, so I didn't think a hard cracker was a good idea.
She has five (yes, 5!) teeth now, and is really enjoying hard crunchy foods on her gums. She snatched a graham cracker off the cutting board when I was making my cheesecake dip, and her eyes lit up. She begged for more.
How I made homemade graham crackers with natural sweeteners:
So, I set about making homemade graham crackers, but I really wanted to use natural sweeteners.
I reached for coconut sugar, honey, and molasses for this recipe. The molasses is just for iron (and some may argue about its natural-ness), and if you really want to, you can use extra honey instead. I have a self-professed vegetarian kiddo on my hands, and so I welcome the iron in the molasses. (Side note: send tips for getting kids to eat meat in the comments below, please).
Homemade Graham Crackers
These homemade Graham crackers are super tasty!
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup grass-fed butter, chilled and diced
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup water
- 3 tablespoons molasses (or more honey)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350, and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flours, sugar, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Pulse a few times to combine.
- Add the diced butter, and pulse until a coarse meal forms, about 10 1-second pulses.
- Next, combine the honey, water and molasses (or more honey) in a measuring cup with spout. Stream the liquid into the food processor while its running (use the feed tube).
- The dough will clump together and form a ball.
- Roll out one-quarter of the dough at a time between two pieces of wax paper. Roll it until it's slightly less than ¼" thick.
- Use a square cookie cutter (or any other cookie cutter shapes you like) to cut out shapes.
- Peel the dough away from all the cut-outs, and then use a spatula to move them to the prepared baking sheet. (Removing all the dough around the crackers first helps you pick them up with the spatula without mangling them too badly).
- Use a fork to prick holes all over, and the blade of a knife to score them in half (do not cut all the way through).
- Bake for 14-17 minutes, until deeply golden brown on the edges (see photos for reference). If you underbake them, they're very soft (which might be okay for younger babies!)
- Store in an airtight container for 1 week.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 227Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 231mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 2gSugar: 18gProtein: 3g
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
ooooh I LOVE this!!! I love natural sweeteners anyway, coconut sugar just tastes SO GOOD, and goodness knows I'll be the same way when I have my first babykins sooo yeah. Pinned for lata!
Claire says
Homemade veggie burgers have been a huge win with my son! Although he loves his meat as well. Maybe try some homemade chicken tenders?
I have noticed with my guy that when he is teething, eating becomes unpredictable. Foods that are typically his favorites get thrown off the high chair. If she's teething, it could be related to that.
If you're looking for requests for your baby food section, I'd love to see fish sticks! My son loves fish, and I'd like to have something premade that I can throw in the freezer for quick meals for him.
Lauren says
Thank you! I usually make miette's graham crackers but they have more sugar than I like my 16mo to have. I never considered coconut sugar.
My 16mo is not a fan of meat anymore either. I think it's the texture not the taste. We try to do fish and quinoa for protein. We've been most successful with grilled ham and cheese sandwiches or ham and veggies scrambled in eggs, or really moist meatballs in red sauce. Other than that we've gone back to some of the purees in Bebe gourmet, but then it's harder for him to feed himself. Looking forward to more of your baby food recipes!
Rachel @ Mesa Cooking Co. says
I'm so glad to see this recipe! Every once in awhile I find a recipe that requires graham crackers and I'm not a big fan of the giant ingredient list on those store-bought things, but this recipe opens up a whole new world! Definitely going to be trying this before we go camping next weekend - gonna have the best 'smores!
Amy says
We love s'mores, and I can't wait to try these! I am always looking for sweets with less sugar for my toddler, and these look great.
Don't feel bad about denying your little one the daycare snacks. I did the same thing, and I packed almost everything from home. For us, it was meals like the tater tot casserole. I'm sure it's delicious in a guilty-pleasure meal sort of way, but no, my 10 month old doesn't need to eat thawed out tater tots mixed with salty canned vegetables and canned soup.
Christina Lane says
Preach, Mama! I'd never let Camille eat that much salt either! :)
Quin @ Butter Be Ready says
Hey Christina! I don't have any kiddos yet but I'm loving this recipe though!! I also enjoy reading your baby recipes and Camille's eating habits. She is adorable and you're such a good mama :)
C.S says
No honey for babies less than 12 months!
Christina Lane says
Yep. My Camille is almost 15 months. But actually, my pediatrician said babies under 12 months can have cooked honey.
Michele says
LOVE these!!! I am making them right now for our upcoming camping s'mores;)
My girls both LOVED meatballs and meatloaf, which I will admit I never had before having kids. Also, eggs. Not meat but scrambled eggs with a little cheese and chives were and still are a hit with the girls. Oh and fish was also a weird one they both loved. I would grill a white fish with a little seasoning and lemon juice and then chop it up with a fork and they would go bonkers over it. Ellie now has to have it in taco form with avocado and picked veggies on top, so sometimes you annoyingly get what you ask for;)
Hugs!
Anna says
This sounds fantastic! I have always wondered if I could use a normal sugar instead if a coconut sugar since the coconut sugar isn't sold in my country at all... Would that work?
Christina Lane says
In this case, Anna, I would use brown sugar and go easy on the molasses.
Alice @ Hip Foodie Mom says
I don't think my girls had meat until they were at least 2 years old. . I wouldn't worry about it .. and when you do re-introduce it .. try some sauces like chimichurri .. my kids would gobble up flavorful meat!! :) they love kalbi! I love love love these homemade graham crackers .. I'm in NYC taking a nutrition class and I'm learning so much! I'm totally going to try this recipe when I get back home because my girls love store bought graham crackers way too much!